"How else can this be resolved? You started all this, and getting beaten is what you deserve." The village chief glared at her fiercely and then looked at the crowd, "Why are you still standing around? Waiting to have your work points deducted?"
"Hehe, Village Chief, we'll get back to work right away."
For villagers, work points are more important than anything. Hearing that their work points might be deducted, everyone couldn't be bothered to watch the commotion any longer. They grabbed their farm tools and ran faster than rabbits.
At the warehouse entrance, only Feng Yuanchun's family, Granny Chen and her son, Feng Caihua, and a few village officials remained.
Granny Chen cried out, "Village Chief, you are biased. I admit the issue was started by me, but Sheng Jun and I were beaten by Qiu Guihua and the others, leaving us injured and unable to work. They can't not compensate us, right?"
"Pah, you want compensation? How about a pile of shit for you to eat? Do you want that?" Ding Cuilan cursed angrily, "You deserve the beating, and on top of that, you want to extort money? Believe it or not, I'll give you a few more slaps."
Granny Chen was frightened by the beating, shrinking back her neck in fear, but she threatened, "Ding Cuilan, don't you dare act arrogant towards me. It's only right to compensate for injuries. You don't think you can just walk away after beating up me and my son, do you? Let me tell you, if your family doesn't pay up, I'll report your scoundrels to the police and have them put in jail."
"Lai Litiu, I'm done arguing with you."
Nobody knew which statement by Granny Chen triggered Liu Qingqiu.
Liu Qingqiu grabbed Granny Chen's hair and slapped her face hard several times.
"You dare report us? I'll destroy your face first, then cripple you. At least then, if I end up in jail, it won't be unjust. You don't want your mouth anymore, do you? I'll tear your mouth apart."
With her slender hands, she slapped Granny Chen's mouth again and again.
Granny Chen wanted to fight back, but Qiu Guihua and Ding Xiaotao each held one of her hands, rendering her powerless to resist. Liu Qingqiu slapped her over a dozen times.
The village chief, both angry and anxious, looked at Feng Caihua and Feng Yuanchun, "What are you two girls standing there stunned for? Why aren't you pulling them apart?"
Feng Caihua pouted and muttered, "If you ask me, Granny Chen deserves a beating. With such a foul mouth, she should be thoroughly disciplined."
Despite saying this, she stepped forward to break up the fight.
Feng Yuanchun held Liu Qingqiu's hand and then tidied her disheveled hair, gently advising, "Mom, don't be angry. Don't waste yourself on this trash. It's not worth it."
Liu Qingqiu shed tears, feeling deeply aggrieved, "I'm just angry she said such nasty things about you. And she wants the police to come and arrest us. Obviously, she bullied you first. Shouldn't she have been beaten? But no, she wants the police to arrest us instead."
"She's like a thief crying, 'Stop the thief!' It's terribly despicable."
Liu Qingqiu couldn't curse too harshly, only feeling that Granny Chen was very malicious.
The common people fear those with authority and don't want to deal with them. In disputes, villagers rely on village officials, not those with authority.
Granny Chen wanting to involve the authorities clearly meant she wanted to ruin them.
Granny Chen lay on the ground, crying out, but she dared not mention going to the police again.
The village chief, pointing at her nose in anger, cursed, "Lai Litiu, you can just keep causing trouble. If you don't want peace and continue making trouble for me every day, then your family shouldn't stay in Feng Family Village. Go wherever you need to. Our village can't afford your family's troublemaking."
The Chen family wandered to Feng Family Village during the drought disaster of the '60s and were kindly taken in by Village Chief Feng. That's how they settled in Feng Family Village and became part of the community.